The Venture Bros.:
Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart
review by Bobby Blakey
In 2003 the pilot episode of the animated series The Venture Bros. hit Adult Swim bringing the old school flare of shows like Johnny Quest, but with over the top humor infused fun. The series ran for seven seasons and while an eighth season was expected, it was sadly canceled. After much fan uproar they have finally made a film that picks up after the events of the finale and hopes to put a cap on the series titled The Venture Bros: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart. Could this film bring closer to the series while capturing the same fun or will we be glad it’s the end of the Venture Bros.?
The Venture Bros. follows the warped misadventures of a former boy adventurer turned washed-up, middle-aged mad scientist Dr. Rusty Venture; his moronic teenage sons; their maniac bodyguard; and the Doctor's arch-nemeses, incompetent super villain The Monarch and his masculine sounding paramour, Dr. Girlfriend. In the new film, Doc’s latest invention will either bankrupt Team Venture or launch them to new heights, as Hank searches for himself, Dean searches for Hank, The Monarch searches for answers, and a mysterious woman from their pasts threatens to bring their entire world crashing down on them.
Returning in their original series roles are James Urbaniak as Dr. Venture, Patrick Warburton as Brock Samson, Michael Sinterniklaas as Dean Venture, Chris McCulloch as Hank Venture and Doc Hammer as Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. Also featured in the voice cast are Nina Arianda as Mantilla, Clancy Brown as Red Death, John Hodgman as Snoopy, Hal Lublin as Clayton, Jane Lynch as Bobbi St. Simone, Charles Parnell as Jefferson Twilight, Jay Pharoah as Nuno Blood, Steven Rattazzi as
Dr. Orpheus, JK Simmons as Ben and Dana Snyder as The Alchemist.
The art and animation is excellent as usual, bringing that classic feel while still being its own thing. Much like the series it pokes fun at various topics but makes sure to bring its own creative element to the story-telling. The vast amount of characters that grew throughout the series could have bogged down the film, but instead continued to enhance and add to the fun. I love that it still gives lots of time to the villains and other secondary characters to shine complete. By this point in the franchise, they are all just as important as the rest of the cast and in turn all the better series.
With a film to wrap things up or even continue they need to do something bigger and better to help it stand out as something more than just a long episode and I feel they did that here even if it is more subtle. While the story does feel more like a regular episode they dive full in with some bigger moments, settings and fun twsits and turns to things that have been building throughout the show. The series was already pretty big so hard to do much else they hadn’t already done, but they pull it off nicely.
This was a hilarious and fun addition to the series that does in fact feel like they were wrapping it all up, but also left it open to more films or even a return of the series which I am all for either way. In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including commentaries and a featurette one the making of the film and the history of the show.
Grab your copy of The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart available now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros and Adult Swim.